Province disappointed by Ceres decision to suspend Northgate plant

One of the five canola crush projects planned for Saskatchewan is being sidelined.

Ceres Global Ag Corp recently announced it is suspending plans for a $350 million canola crush facilty at Northgate, due to inflationary pressures, higher costs, and shifting macroeconomic conditions.

A Government of Saskatchewan statement states it is disappointed in the news, but remains confident in our investment climate and economic future. 

"Saskatchewan has seen strong economic growth and job creation recently, is leading the nation in several economic indicators, and has welcomed over $14 billion in investments announced across a range of sectors. Saskatchewan remains one of the top locations in the world to do business and we remain focused on ensuring we have a strong, competitive business environment to continue this economic momentum. This includes recent enhancements to the Saskatchewan Value-Added Agriculture Incentive to remain a leader in agriculture production and processing as we work to achieve our Growth Plan goals."

Sask Canola's Policy Manager Dale Leftwich says the Cere's plant would have been a nice addition for canola producers with it being located in the southeast.

"It's in a unique position right at the edge of the (U.S.) border. For those farmers in that area, it would have been a great alternative to shipping canola north to other crushing plants."

Leftwich puts the province's current canola crush capacity at about 4.3 million tonnes.

"The announcements, were going to add in about 6.8 million tonnes of canola production. The Ceres plant was going to be 1.1 million tonnes of production."

He notes Saskatchewan can handle the increased crush demand by moving some product away from the export market to a more stable local or domestic use market.